Economic growth is one of the most cost-effective ways of dealing with poverty in Africa. Growth lifts many people out of poverty and at the same time generates the government revenues necessary for investments within the social sector. Thus the design and implementation of business development policies remains a major challenge in most African countries. This entails supporting businesses to be integrated within the global economic structure without being easy victims of unscrupulous and opportunistic investors. During the past two decades successive Ghanaian governments have implemented private sector development policies aimed at stimulating growth through internationalisation of local enterprises and attracting foreign investors. Contributors to the volume provide an overview of the impact of these policies on the Ghanaian business environment and the strategic orientations of managers. They also offer an insight into the productivity and performance of exporting firms, the financial and knowledge acquisition strategies they adopt, their degree of market orientation and corporate social responsibility and the challenges faced by African policy makers and managers learning to operate within an increasingly turbulent global economy. The book situates the Ghanaian experience within the broader context of African economic growth and calls for African economic integration as a platform on which African firms can build their competitiveness and operate more effectively within the global economy.

Private Enterprise-Led Development in Sub-Saharan Africa provides a novel theoretical and conceptual model to guide research into Africa's economic development. It endorses the view that private enterprise-led growth will help reduce poverty since it strengthens individuals' capacity to care for themselves and their families.

This book gives readers an understanding of the factors that shape the marketing decisions of managers who operate in African economies. It brings together fifteen African cases written by scholars and executives with rich knowledge of business practices in Africa and is essential reading for both undergraduate and graduate students in marketing, international strategy and international business.

Entrepreneurial and Small Business Development in Africa focuses on entrepreneurial development and the development of small businesses in Africa. The central idea of this book is that entrepreneurial development and small business development are connected. Entrepreneurship is lauded as an engine of growth (economic development and job creation), with small businesses often contributing to new job creation. Also, entrepreneurship and small business development are the heart of many countries’ economies. The decision to focus on entrepreneurial development and small business development is that first, there is a consensus that most entrepreneurial activities are aimed at creating small new ventures. Second, countries that give special attention to entrepreneurship stand a chance of industrialization. Third, Africa has been reported as having a rich entrepreneurial landscape as the continent’s wealthiest individuals generated their wealth as trailblazing entrepreneurs. Fourth, small-scale entrepreneurs and businesses form the backbone of economic activities across the continent. A motivation to focus on entrepreneurial and small business development is the generally accepted view that start-ups in Africa are growing calling for understanding into how to enhance productivity, efficiencies, and application of new technologies. The book aims to enhance the understanding of stakeholders (business owners, governments, practitioners) to overturn challenges such as inadequate start-up capital, competition, lack of employees with the right skills, and low use of technology. The ability to develop entrepreneurship in Africa, and the role of small-medium enterprises cannot be underestimated. The promotion of entrepreneurship in Africa is crucial as it creates jobs, provides decent livelihoods, and contributes to GDP. Most entrepreneurial initiatives in developing economies entail identifying opportunities and new venture creation. It is worth recognizing that most new ventures created take the form of small businesses and the entrepreneurial processes involve entrepreneurs’ knowledge and skills, identifying opportunities, involvement in setting up a business and managing the business. The various aspects of this book focus on many entrepreneurial activities that are undertaken on the African continent. This book is focused on African countries since there is a reason to be optimistic about the prospects for growth and entrepreneurship. To achieve entrepreneurial success in African countries, the African Development Bank (2021) proposes that there must be a link between macro and firm-level characteristics that will serve as the mix of entrepreneurship in societies. This book, therefore, considers some macro-level factors such as education, training, and skills development, technological developments, government programs, and entrepreneurial challenges and opportunities. At the firm-level, this book focuses on entrepreneurial initiatives such as branding and marketing.

There has, in recent years, been an increasing emphasis on the ability of employees to think differently and take chances in business as well as in social and political organizations. Concepts such as "e;value innovation"e;, "e;creative intelligence"e;, "e;creative leadership"e;, "e;creative capability"e;, and "e;disciplined creativity"e; are now invoked in academic literature and policy circles to capture the spirit of this growing need to find novel solutions to pressing problems. Studies have shown that leadership behaviour is a key factor in facilitating the desired individual and collective creative undertaking at all levels of society and within a dynamic global context. The contributions in this volume provide a good summary of the current debate in the field. The book is therefore an essential guide to scholars, students, policy makers as well as expatriates seeking insight into the current debate and/or suggestions on how to improve creativity at individual and collective levels of organizations and societies.

Policy makers and scholars consider private enterprise development as one of the most promising avenues of economic growth in Africa. To grow, enterprises must improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations, often through internationalisation. It is generally believed that internationalisation enhances the technological and managerial capacities of firms and also helps them to leverage other types of resources not immediately available within their own countries. In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in exploring the extent to which African firms are integrated into global business networks, and the benefits, if any, derived from such integrations. The above informed the need for an empirical investigations in Ghana from 2002-2003, the results of which are presented in this book. Based on the experiences in Ghana, contributors to the volume explore the issues of internationalisation in Africa by focusing on firm-level activities and inter-firm relations rather than on macro issues. They draw on dominant theories of internationalisation to explore issues such as sustained competitive advantages of firms, management and business relations in export processing zones, organisational structures, competence and leadership; culture, learning and cross-border inter-firm linkages as well as finance and stock exchange performance in Ghana. Internationalisation and Enterprise Development is a major contribution to the body of knowledge on enterprise development in Africa in general, and Ghana in particular. It is a must-read to all who are interested in Africa's enterprise development including the role played by internationalisation in that process.

The role of higher education, especially the international dimension, is given little importance in the discourse on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa. This book aims to change that. The potential of higher education’s contribution to Africa’s development remains unrealized and often misunderstood. In today’s globalised world, which prioritises economic growth through liberalised trade and competitive market strategies, much emphasis has been placed on higher education’s ability to produce graduates to serve the labour market and produce new knowledge for the knowledge economy. While these are important contributions, the book argues that international higher education and new knowledge must go beyond economic purposes and serve the human and social development needs of the continent. It is against this background that the African Network for the Internationalisation of Education (ANIE) undertook research on the international dimension of higher education in Africa and its role in the achievement of the MDGs. Through empirical research, seven case studies address how international and regional higher education programmes and policies in African universities can address MDG priorities of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, combating HIV/AIDS and establishing global partnerships for development through academic mobility, joint research initiatives, curriculum innovation and policy development.